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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27206989">to see with the heart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuiLian/pseuds/HuiLian'>HuiLian</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blindness, Gen, Whump, Whumptober 2020, all the other batkids are mentioned in like one line, but soft whump, how do i describe soft whump? it's like whump but SOFT (tm), minimal editing we die like mne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:29:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27206989</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuiLian/pseuds/HuiLian</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Cass?” Tim calls. She knows it’s Tim, she knows that much, but she can’t see him. How is she going to know why her brother is calling her? </p><p>Without her being able to see the furrowing on Tim’s eyebrows, without her being able to see the stance on his shoulders, without her being able to see the almost shy movements of his hips, how is Cass going to read him? </p><p>How is she going to reply? She doesn’t know with what Tim calls her. Is he worried? Is he tired? Is he angry? Is he joking?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cassandra Cain &amp; Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain &amp; Tim Drake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947091</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>to see with the heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>the discord group chat inspired this little fic about how blindness is such a good prompt for Cass, and then I make it soft just because (watch me straight up torture and kill the boys but then write soft-ass whump for the girls...)</p><p>anyways! here's day 26: blindness! enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cass hates Cobblepot. She really does. As if it’s not enough that he does most of his crimes in papers and records and <em>everything</em> Cass hates, but he teamed up with Ivy. <em>Ivy</em>. </p><p>And now, Cass can’t see <em>anything</em> because Ivy’s pollens are a <em>pain</em> in the <em>ass</em>. </p><p>(She remembers the first time she uses that phrase. Steph laughed so much that she almost falls from the rooftop.)</p><p>At least it’s not permanent. Alfred said so. </p><p>Cass trusts Alfred. </p><p>“Cass?” Tim calls. She knows it’s Tim, she knows <em>that</em> much, but she <em>can’t see</em> him. How is she going to know why her brother is calling her? </p><p>Without her being able to see the furrowing on Tim’s eyebrows, without her being able to see the stance on his shoulders, without her being able to see the almost shy movements of his hips, how is Cass going to <em>read</em> him? </p><p>How is she going to reply? She doesn’t know with what Tim calls her. Is he worried? Is he tired? Is he angry? Is he joking?</p><p>“Cass?” Tim calls again, this time much closer to her. A hand lands on Cass’ shoulder and she jumps, a bit. She doesn’t know. </p><p>She doesn’t <em>see</em>. </p><p>This is going to be worse than that time she lost her ability to read people. At least then she could still <em>see</em>. </p><p>Tim squeezes her shoulders, once, then twice. It’s firm enough. But <em>how else</em> is he doing it? How is the light behind his eyes dancing? What is the other hand doing? What shape does his mouth make? </p><p>“Cassie, do you want to go up?” Tim asks. “You have been down here for hours, now.”</p><p>Cass hums. She wants to go up, she wants to be with her family, but what will she do, once she is with them? She has no idea how they are. She has no idea what they might be saying to her.</p><p>No. It’s better for her to stay here until she can see them again. At least here, there’s no one to confuse her.</p><p>But she doesn’t want to be here, alone. She wants to joke with Dick, she wants to tease Damian with Stephanie, she wants to sit on top of Jason, and she wants to work with Duke to make Tim go crazy. </p><p>The thought of her family brings back the worries from earlier. Are any of them injured after the fight? Is there anyone who manages to hide their injuries from Alfred? Everyone has gotten an all-clear from Alfred, but Alfred doesn’t have her abilities. </p><p>With a jolt, Cass realizes that she doesn’t know, either. She cannot <em>see</em> them. </p><p>“Cass?” Tim asks again, voice soft. “If you don’t want to come up, that’s fine. But Alfie is making pancakes, and you know Steph and pancakes. There’s not going to be any left.”</p><p>Is he lying? Tim wouldn’t, not for this, but Cass doesn’t <em>know</em>. She’s not sure. </p><p>She wants to be sure. </p><p>So she stands up. There’s pancakes, and she is <em>not</em> going to hide down here when there are pancakes and laughter and family upstairs. </p><p>A squawk somewhere around her informs her that she has just stepped on Tim’s foot. She can’t see him, but she knows the noise. That noise is going to be accompanied by his eyebrows rising, his eyes widening, and his arms rising. That noise is going to be accompanied by Tim pretending to be mad but not really. </p><p>It’s a good noise. </p><p>“Cass! That’s my foot!” Tim exclaims. </p><p>She lets herself smile. “Sorry,” she says, lifting one shoulder, exaggerating her every move. She can’t see whether or not Tim understands her, so she’s just going to make sure that none of her movements can be misinterpreted. “Can’t see, remember?” </p><p>A yelp from Tim, and once again, that’s a good noise. She can already picture it in her mind, the eyebrows rising even further, his arms going to his side, and his head tilted. </p><p>But she can’t <em>see</em> it. So what does picturing even do? </p><p>Cass pushes the thought out of her head. Picturing her brother’s movements does <em>more</em> good than thinking about it. Besides, before Cass can wallow in the thought, Tim’s other hand grabs hers. </p><p>“Come on,” he says. “I want pancakes.”</p><p>Cass nods and follows him up. </p><p>***</p><p>She hears voices. She hears <em>a lot</em> of voices. </p><p>She wishes she can see what they are doing. </p><p>She hears Damian shouts, but she can’t determine whether he is truly angry or he is just playing angry. She hears Jason scoffs, but she can’t determine whether he is truly mad or he is just keeping his reputation. She hears Dick chatting with Duke, but she can’t determine <em>how</em> they are chatting and whether or not she needs to intervene. </p><p>She tries to calm herself, tries to breathe in and out and let the voices wash over her, but she can’t. She tells herself that it’s not that different to her closing her eyes, but she can’t even fool herself. </p><p>It’s different. It’s very different. </p><p>She is a breath away from just walking away, all the risk of hitting things be damned, when someone sits next to her and put an arm around her. </p><p>She knows that arm, and she knows the voice that comes with it. “Do you think you can finish these pancakes for me, Cass?” Steph asks. </p><p>Cass lets the arm around her shoulders be an anchor, and feels all the nerves that had been building up falling away.  She’s okay. She’s okay. </p><p>They’re all okay. </p><p>It’s another moment before Cass realizes what Steph was asking, and she frowns. Steph relinquishing her pancakes is unheard of. </p><p>Steph seems to realize this because she laughs as soon as Cass feels her own brows furrowing. The sound smooths out the frown on her forehead in an instant. </p><p>She can practically <em>see</em> the way Steph laughs. Her long blonde hair flowing behind her, her cheeks going up and up, her body moving in time with her breaths. Cass finds herself smiling just from the memory of it. </p><p>“Alfred made me waffles, and we all know waffles are superior to pancakes,” Steph says. </p><p>“Oh,” Cass replies. “How many pancakes do you want me to finish?”</p><p>Steph hums, the sound of it reverberating inside Cass’ ears, and says, “Eh… around ten?”</p><p>“Ten?” Cass asks. There’s no way Alfred would make <em>anyone</em> more waffles after <em>ten</em> pancakes. Is Steph lying? Is she joking? Cass <em>can’t tell</em>. </p><p>“Shh,” Steph shushes her. “Quietly!” </p><p>It dawns on her, then. Cass couldn’t believe it took her so long to figure it out. But she can’t see her, so she guesses that’s to be expected. “Did you steal it?” Cass whispers. </p><p>Steph shushes her again. Even without seeing her, Cass knows that she is right. It calms her, a bit, that she knows how to read Steph even without seeing her. </p><p>“You stole it,” Cass whispers again, feeling the smile stretch even wider on her lips. </p><p>“Yes, now be quiet and eat it! I haven’t seen Damian for a while now, so he’s definitely coming back to get it!” </p><p>Cass tries to hold the laughter back, but she can’t. It bursts through her, filling the entire room. All the noises stop, then, it starts again. </p><p>She keeps smiling. Her family is here, Steph’s arm is around her shoulders, and she can’t see.</p><p>It’s not as bad as she thought it would be. </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>a kudos and comment on your way out, good sir and ma'am and gentlefolk? this author will appreciate it very kindly</p><p>check out my tumblr (huilian.tumblr.com) if this mess is your thing and you want to see more of it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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